Work-life balance policy and practice: Understanding line manager attitudes and behaviors

Work-life balance (WLB) is receiving increasing attention in the human resource management field. Line managers are playing a more active role in HRM decision-making, including work-life balance decisions, with the devolution of human resource management responsibility. Drawing on the theory of planned behavior, this paper develops a conceptual model explaining what affects line manager WLB policy and practice behaviors and the consequent impact on employee WLB experience in their organizations. Line manager WLB policy involvement, policy awareness, perceived policy instrumentality, and personal policy utilization are variables which are proposed to impact line manager attitudes towards WLB policies. These attitudes, in turn, are proposed to affect three employee WLB policy outcomes: employee WLB policy awareness, policy uptake, and policy satisfaction. The implications for future research and practice are set out.     

Employer‐supported volunteering benefits: Gift exchange among employers,employees, and volunteer organizations

Using gift exchange theory to explain the growing trend of employers offering employer‐supported volunteering (ESV) benefits, this article discusses the creation of exchange relationships between the employer and employee and between the volunteer organization and employee. Hypotheses derived from the employee's perspective are tested with a nationally representative sample of volunteers (n=3,658). Findings suggest that ESV benefits are positively related to hours volunteered by the employee. Volunteer hours predict employee perceptions of skill acquisition, and such perceptions are positively related to perceptions of job success and employer recognition. We discuss the implications of these findings for business, employees, and volunteer organizations, with an emphasis on human resource management policy and practice. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Compensation or Right: An Analysis of Employee “Fringe” Benefit Perception

Past research suggests that employee perceptions of the benefits provided to them by their organization can influence employee attitudes. Three factors that appear to influence the perception of benefits by employees are benefit satisfaction, benefit importance, and the perceived motive of the organization in providing the benefit to employees. However, it also appears that some benefits are perceived as rights that are owed to employees by the organization. This study proposes and tests a model of benefit perception that incorporates all of these factors. Results suggest that benefit satisfaction and the perceived motive of the organization in providing a benefit both have a direct relationship with employee attitudes. The perceived right status of a benefit appears to moderate this relationship.     

Research into employee trust: epistemological foundations and paradigmatic boundaries

This article explores the epistemological roots and paradigmatic boundaries of research into employee trust, a growing field in human resource management. Drawing on Burrell and Morgan's well‐known sociological paradigms and their epistemological foundations, we identify the dominant approaches to employee trust research to examine its strengths and limitations. Our review of the literature on employee trust revealed that the majority of the most cited papers were written from a psychological perspective, characterised by positivistic methodologies, variance theory explanations and quantitative data collection methods. We also found that most of the studies can be located in the functionalist paradigm, and while accepting that functionalism and psychological positivism have their merits, we argue that research in these traditions sometimes constrains our understanding of employee trust in their organisations. We conclude that trust researchers would benefit from a better understanding of the ontological, epistemological and axiological assumptions underlying of HRM research and should embrace greater epistemic reflexivity.     

Mapping the relationships between high-performance work systems,employee resilience and engagement: a study of the banking industry in China

Abstract

There is now growing interest in employee resilience in the organizational context and its contribution to organizational performance. However, little is known the extent to which high-performance work systems (HPWS) contributes towards enhancing employee’s resilience as well as their levels of engagement. This study examines the relationships among HPWS, employee resilience and engagement, using a sample of 2040 employees in the Chinese banking industry. Drawing on the job demands-resources model and strategic/high-performance human resource management theory, we develop three hypotheses to test the relationship between HPWS and employee resilience, resilience and employee engagement, and the mediating effect of resilience on the relationship between HPWS and engagement. All hypotheses are supported and suggest that HPWS can be used as a job resource to positively affect resilience and subsequently employee engagement. The key message of the paper is that employee resilience can be viewed as a set of skills and attributes that can be developed through the effective use of HPWS to benefit both individuals and the organization.     

Incorporating employee resourcing requirements into deployment decision making

Employee resourcing is the process of matching human resource capabilities to the strategic and operational needs of the organization. This is exceptionally problematic in project‐based organizations due to the competing priorities of the project, the individual employee, and the wider succession needs of the organization. This article presents the findings of research examining the human resource management practices that form the key components of the resourcing process. These included, inter alia, human resource planning, recruitment and selection, team deployment, performance management, and human resource administration. Current practices were examined in seven leading construction firms, all of which faced dynamic resourcing priorities. Within an inductive methodology, semistructured interviews were carried out with senior executives, human resource management (HRM) specialists, senior operational managers, and project‐based staff. Based on a synthesis of the promising practices extracted from the case‐study organizations, an innovative approach to project resourcing was developed that aims to balance organizational, project, and individual employee requirements. Team deployment resides at the center of resourcing process for the project‐based organization as it determines the success of the project, which in turn determines the competitiveness of the organization. Long‐term planning and employee involvement enable team deployment to integrate with other elements of HRM effectively and thus help to balance the organizational strategic priorities, project requirements, and individual employee needs and preferences.     

Baudrillard and the Metaphysics of Motivation: A Reappraisal of Corporate Culturalism in the Light of the Work and Ideas of Jean Baudrillard

This paper considers the implications of the work of the French social theorist, Jean Baudrillard, for contemporary strategies of employee management which focus upon the centrality of culture and its purposeful organization and dissemination. Starting with an exploration and consideration of the philosophical assumptions which underpin classical conceptions and models of employee motivation, it charts the ongoing refinement of these ideas, up to and including, the current fascination with the promise of corporate culturalism to deliver levels of high employee motivation and commitment. The work of Jean Baudrillard is then outlined and employed to develop a critical analysis of not only the philosophical presuppositions which continue to underlie the management of motivation but, also, the potential consequences of the current fascination with the management of organizational culture as a means towards increased levels of employee commitment and output.
In conclusion, it suggests that the same postmodernizing process which Baudrillard identifies as the outcome of the intense mediatization of society is also produced and reproduced within the domain of the contemporary work organization, due to the championing of similar strategies of cultural management, especially by personnel or human resource academics and practitioners. Such a development is not, however, greeted with optimism. Rather, it is suggested that this particular diagnosis of the postmodern condition views the result as the production and reproduction of a deeply disinterested and enervated workforce; one which demonstrates enthusiasm neither for corporate goals nor indeed the furtherance of their own life-projects.     

High performance work practice implementation and employee impressions of line manager leadership

Human resource management (HRM) research has documented the importance of high performance work practices (HPWPs) to organizations, and recent efforts have argued for increasing attention to the role of line manager implementation of HPWPs. To date, research in this area has focused largely on the organizational or employee implications of HPWP implementation, ignoring the process through which implementation affects outcomes. In this article, we use theory on impression formation to describe the perceptual process through which line manager implementation of HPWPs facilitates the formation of different employee impressions of manager leadership styles. We argue that this process is contingent upon employee attributions of implementation intent, which are influenced by the interaction of employee affective and attributional tendencies with line manager implementation style (i.e., political skill). Our conceptualization of this process contributes to HRM research by demonstrating the benefits of integrating it with leadership theory, as well as identifying the role of interpersonal perceptual processes in the effects of HPWPs.     

Performance management effectiveness: practices or context?

Although much research has focused on the technical or measurement issues involved in employee performance management, this study investigates the mutual influence of practices and context on performance management effectiveness. From a sample of 312 private and public sector organizations with 200 or more employees, the results indicate positive associations between practices – training and employee recognition – and performance management effectiveness. They further underscore the relevance of three contextual variables – culture, climate and the strategic integration of human resource management – as they are also related to more positive performance management outcomes. Implications for research and practice are discussed.     

浅谈企业员工职业发展

随着我国经济体制的改革发展深入化进行,我国的企业经营模式和增长方式将会面临根本性变革的巨大压力。为了更好地面对改革压力,就需要企业在内部人力资源管理体系上进行优化和提高。本文的笔者主要通过充分调研与研究,使用多种调研手段,深入实践不难发现,我国目前中小企业的人力资源管理的主要问题体现在:企业基于战略目标的人力资源规划与员工个人职业生涯规划的不协调,导致了企业发展到一定阶段产生瓶颈的同时员工个人绩效的低下。同时,对中小企业人力资源管理体系的优化与提升起到一定的借鉴作用。     

Rethinking the role of performance appraisal in total quality management: An argument for the use of peers as raters

Historically, total quality management theory argues against the use of traditional performance appraisal systems. However, contemporary managers need a means of gathering information for human resource decisions concerning individuals. This study examines the suitability of peer appraisals for the TQM environment, and the potential impact peer appraisals may have on enhancing employee commitment to the TQM process as viewed through a procedural justice framework.     

A multilevel analysis of the effects of HR diversity management on employee knowledge sharing: the case of Chinese employees

This study explored the effects of human resource diversity management on employee knowledge sharing and the mediating and moderating variables underlying this link, among Chinese employees. Multilevel analyses of the data from 716 respondents in 37 firms revealed that organizational-level HR diversity management practices explained significant variance in employee knowledge sharing. The relationship between HR diversity management and knowledge sharing was fully mediated by employee trust in the organization. Moreover, cooperative norms moderated the second stage of the mediation, which is the relationship between trust in the organization and knowledge sharing. The findings of this research provide important insights into the relationship between HR diversity management and employee work outcomes.     

Clarifying the construct of human resource systems: Relating human resource management to employee performance

Strategic human resource management researchers have strongly advocated a system perspective and provided considerable evidence that certain systems of human resource practices have a significant impact on individual and organizational performance. Yet, challenges of understanding the construct of human resource systems still remain in the literature. Specifically, few efforts have been made to explicate the internal fit in human resource systems referring to how the practices in human resource systems work together. For the purpose of clarifying human resource systems construct, we review the components of human resource systems and delineate how the parts of human resource systems work together to influence employee performance. Theoretical and empirical implications for future research are also discussed.     

Strategic HR system differentiation between jobs: The effects on firm performance and employee outcomes

The purpose of this research was to understand whether firms apply different human resource management systems to different occupations within the same organization (HR differentiation) and how the extent to which they do so may influence firm and employee outcomes. We conducted two studies pertaining to these questions. The first study was based on data collected from managers, and the results suggest that firms differentiate their HR investments based on the strategic value of occupations to the firm, which was further associated with the human capital of those occupations. Differentiation in human capital was also associated with firm performance. The second study was based on data obtained from nonmanagement employees. The findings indicated that employees who were recipients of less HR system investment had lower fairness perceptions, which were further associated with higher turnover intentions and lower organizational citizenship behavior. Although the evidence from these studies suggests that firms may realize benefits from strategic HR system differentiation, managers should carefully consider how to balance the effects of differentiation on firm performance and employee well‐being before implementing such systems.     

工作满意度、组织承诺与工作绩效之间的实证研究

在现代高强度的工作环境下,企业竞争越来越依靠于人才的配置。为了吸引和留住人才,越来越多的企业更加关注公司员工的感受和需求,在提高员工满意度的同时提高员工的工作绩效,保障企业的高效低成本运作。员工满意度、组织承诺、工作绩效是企业能否长时间留住人才的主要指标,对于企业人力资源管理有着重要意义。从理论上来说,通过实证研究可以具体量化三者之间的关系;从实践上来说,对三者之间影响关系的清楚认识可以为企业人力资源部门提供制度和政策上的指导,从而降低企业的人力成本、提高企业运作的效率。研究的主要内容为通过问卷收集的方法,以各类企业员工为研究对象,探究员工满意度、组织承诺和工作绩效之间的相关关系,建立员工满意度、组织承诺和工作绩效三者之间的量化研究模型。根据研究结果,给企业人力资源管理部门提出具有建设性的建议,以在减少成本的同时促进企业的高效运作,使企业更具凝聚力。     

Small entrepreneurial ventures culture, change and the impact on HRM: A critical review

Effective management of people is increasingly recognized in the literature as a vital contributor to organizational performance and indeed survival. Nevertheless, studies of the dynamics of human resource management in small entrepreneurial ventures are relatively sparse. In this paper we draw upon a range of behaviourally-informed research publications to demonstrate that a culture of owner-influenced individualism and informality pervades these ventures, affecting prime human resource issues such as performance related practices, training and development, work–life balance and other critical dimensions of employee welfare. A preference for informality and an absence of strategy to inform owner–employee relations sits uneasily alongside growing political pressures toward codification of the management of employees in small entrepreneurial ventures. The response to these pressures may have significant implications both for relationships with employees and for organizational performance.     

Interactions between work and identities: Thriving,withering, or redefining the self?

Interactions between work and identities are an important topic as a result of their influence on both employees' well-being and organizational performance. However, there is a lack of theorizing that comprehensively charts the processes and outcomes of work and identity interactions. In this paper, we formulate an integrated conceptual model of interactions between work and identities, employee reactions to them, and subsequent outcomes. In our model, we bring together well-known and under-examined aspects of work and identity interactions. The model explains how such varied outcomes as employee thriving and withering, and both subjugated and empowered identities derive from encounters between work and identities. The model makes it possible to assess the possible benefits and side-effects of human resource management practices that seek to align work with the worker, and supports human resource managers in distinguishing the positive potential in situations where employees find their work misaligning with their identities.     

Human Resource Management,Employee Exchange Relationships,and Performance in Small Businesses

In this study, the authors examine the effects of commitment‐based human resource management practices on the performance of small businesses. These effects are examined through the mediators of employee involvement and quit rates. In addition, they contribute to arguments that the effect of human resource management practices on performance takes place through the establishment and support of exchange relationships with employees. Using responses from CEOs and employees of small businesses, their results indicate that human resource practices in small businesses that are based on leaders' views of employee commitment are positively related to revenue growth and perceptions of performance. Further, the authors found that employee involvement and quit rates mediate these relationships.     

论人力资源管理中的“战略性激励”

社会变革、经济发展、人类进步,要求社会组织,特别是企业经营与管理与之相呼应,不断创新。传统人事型管理仅着眼于劳资关系、过多关注于薪酬的做法,已经很难适应新形势的要求,而被战略性的、全面系统的、以人本思想为指导的现代"人力资源管理"(HRM)所代替,关注人的潜能的发挥,把个人的发展与企业未来发展相联系。现代企业人力资源管理的核心理念可以用"战略性激励"来表达,相对于传统人事管理,现代人力资源管理的根本特性总的来说是具有"战略性";相对于企业其他方面的管理,现代人力资源管理是以激励为核心的。     

Human resource management's role in clarifying the new psychological contract

This article discusses the importance of understanding and managing the changing employee–employer relationship (psychological contract). It offers a brief discussion on changing employee–employer expectations and provides a definition and discussion on the importance of the psychological contract in managing employee–employer relationships. Several employee–employer interactions in which human resource management (HRM) personnel can help clarify and reshape the psychological contract are presented.